Photo: Hans-Jürgen Hübner · CC BY 3.0Hazard risk in Assiginack is lower than in 93% of Canadian towns
Fire seldom reaches Assiginack: since 1986, 0.1% of the land within 25 km has burned (0.003% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.008 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Radon is about average around Assiginack: 5.2% of tested homes in the survey area topped the guideline, against 6.6% for the typical town. Assiginack grades A for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Assiginack’s hazards
For Assiginack, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Assiginack faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Assiginack: A
Seismic risk and radon set Assiginack’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Wildfire is rare near Assiginack: 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Assiginack’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
The yearly burn rate around Assiginack is 0.003%, low beside 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
Fire has stayed at least 10 km from Assiginack’s homes since 1986.
Forest fuel covers 19% of the land close to Assiginack and 42% across 25 km.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Ontario · highest of 872
In the top quarter in Ontario: Assiginack ranks 50th of 872 at 0.003% a year, with Sioux Lookout first at 0.16%.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
7.5% of Canada’s 2,610 towns burn fast enough to rank moderate or above; Assiginack stays low, with 92%.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Assiginack
Flood studies whose area touches Assiginack, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Assiginack, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
69% of towns in Ontario have a flood study, more than Canada’s 58%; Assiginack is not yet one of them.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
The grade leaves flood out, since a study area says nothing about how many of Assiginack’s homes are at risk.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Little shaking expected in Assiginack: $0.008 a year per $1,000
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.008 per $1,000, Assiginack carries 0.3 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.008, Assiginack is below the typical town in Ontario ($0.043); Alexandria is highest at $0.21.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
87% of Canada’s 2,611 towns expect more shaking damage than Assiginack.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
For Assiginack the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Radon about average around Assiginack: 5.2% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline.
At 5.2% over the guideline, the area around Assiginack is about level with the typical Canadian town’s 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Around Assiginack, 5.2% of tests were over 200 Bq/m³ and 1% over 600, against a median of 4% in Ontario.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
37% of Canada’s 2,611 towns share Assiginack’s band of 5 to 10%; 26% sit higher.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
Neighbouring homes in Assiginack can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011). · Radon tests: the Sudbury and District Health Unit
Where to get warnings in Assiginack
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Assiginack; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
For fires near Assiginack, the national fire information system maps danger and active fires daily; local authorities give any evacuation order.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Assiginack’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assiginack | Low | $0.008 | 5.2% | None listed |
| Wikwemikong Unceded 2,875 · 8.8 km | Low | $0.009 | 5.2% | None listed |
Wikwemikong Unceded burns a little more than Assiginack, in the same low band (low here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Assiginack faces
Practical steps for Assiginack’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Assiginack.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Assiginack sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Assiginack’s included.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Assiginack floods.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Assiginack
Does Assiginack flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Assiginack (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
How big is the earthquake risk in Assiginack?
Expected earthquake damage in Assiginack comes to $0.008 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Assiginack?
5.2% of the 97 homes Health Canada tested around Assiginack topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Assiginack at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Assiginack’s band is low, with 0.1% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2025), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Assiginack’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Assiginack grades A for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).